“We met as residents, we got married at the end of residency,” said Ismene Petrakis, reflecting on life with her husband Michael Sernyak.
The pair met on the tenth floor of Yale New Haven Hospital, and the Yale-trained psychiatrists started a family and launched their careers.
Sernyak became CEO of the Connecticut Mental Health Center near the hospital and Petrakis worked as a psychiatrist at the VA Hospital in West Haven.
They were back where they met all those years ago on the same floors where they were residents. Now, it’s Smilow Cancer Hospital and it’s where Michael was diagnosed with cancer two years ago.
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“It was just hard to be in a place where we had been trainees and worked. And to be back as a patient was hard,” Petrakis said.
Sernyak might have been a Smilow patient, but he wasn’t new to the hospital. He was a long-time supporter of the Closer to Free Ride - the fundraiser for Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center.
He was an avid cyclist who also promoted health and wellness for mental health patients, so the ride was a natural fit. He was a ride marshal, helping out other riders with bike problems and other issues on ride day.
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“He had the stamina to be able to ride around all those miles and to be able to help people if they needed it. And I know he enjoyed that," Petrakis said.
He passed away in May, so this year Petrakis will ride Closer to Free for the first time, and in the memory of her husband. She’ll be surrounded by her kids, Alexander and Zoe, and a number of family and friends on their team “Philly Pretzel Parade,” named in honor of the Philly native who loved pretzels.
“And anybody that knew him knew that he would take a detour to go to wherever the closest pretzel factory could be in order to get them,” Petrakis said, adding that he would eat several of them.
The team of 13 has already raised $14,000, much of that support coming from colleagues, friends and family.
“I think he'd be proud of the fact that we were training and riding and had a team. He'd be touched that all these people are riding in his name, 13 people. It's a pretty big team,” Petrakis said.
All of the money raised from the Closer to Free Ride will go to patient programs, research and patient care.
Thinking about Sept. 7, she said ride day may be hard.
“Well, I’ve been thinking that it will be a little bit emotional to go by Smilow," Petrakis said.
But she’s looking forward to being surrounded by love and support for the event and cause her husband cared so much about.
“I think he would have been just floored and touched about that," she said.
